11/17/2006
More than 100 CHS students will take the stage
Jessica Selby , Daily Times


Though they are only high school students, they will be performing like professionals this weekend at the Coventry High School Varsity Revue.
More than 100 students and a handful of faculty will be taking to the stage in 18 different acts for the revue.
There are singers, dancers, soloists accompanied by piano and guitar players, pianists performing by themselves, and even a rock band in this year's show. Five school groups are involved as well, including the jazz ensemble, select choir, concert chorus, creative movement and the competition cheerleaders. Members of the audience will hear classical music, oldies, new age rock, country and even a medley from the Super Mario brother's video game.
"This year's show is called 'Stars on the Water' and it takes place on a cruise ship," said Sue Tracy, student council advisor and one of the faculty advisers for the revue. "We have such a mix of talent, there is sure to be something that everyone will enjoy."
More than 60 acts turned out for the three days of auditions for the revue, held the weekend before Columbus Day. A final cut had to be made, leaving 18 acts.
Michelle Testa will be performing to the song "Forever Love," Kara Skaling and Bailey Roy will be performing to the song "Gyrate," and Tamena Amini will be performing to "Arabian Pleasure."
Seniors James Moushon and Jonathon Cybulski are the emcees for the show. They take the audience from one scene in the revue to the next, Tracy said. Each scene, she said, is meant to take place in a different location on the cruise ship. In one act, the performers are in the workout room, in another scene the kids are in the lounge, and another scene is supposed to take place in a dinner theater.
The students involved in the production are at the heart of the entire revue, according to Tracy. They are the ones that design the set, make the props, write the lines, come up with the theme, cast the acts and operate the technical end of the show.
"The student council is solely responsible for the show," Tracy said. "There is an audition committee which is made up of students from each of the four classes and a faculty adviser [Patricia Kelly], who sits in with them, but it is the students who are in there doing all the work."
"We do hire someone with sound equipment to come in and bring that equipment for us to use, but it is the kids up on stage that are the ones plugging in the microphones and operating all other technical parts of the show," Tracy said. "The student council is in charge of putting out a program book of the revue and securing the ads from local businesses for the book."
Student Council Chairman Alison Brouillette, a senior at CHS, is the director of this year's show. She and many of the other students primarily responsible for the revue have been working on the show in some respect or another since their freshmen year. That is how, Tracy said, they manage to "run such a professional show."
"This show is a tradition that has been going on at our school since 1979," she said. "It's a great way to showcase the talents of so many of our students set together in one event."
"It gives the students who want to be on stage the chance to do so and the ones who want to work behind the curtain an opportunity as well, and the kids this year are ready. They are definitely a lot calmer than I would be, but I think it's because they just have so much talent that they are very comfortable being on stage."
The revue is open to the public. Tickets can be purchased at the door on the night of the event for $5. The performances will begin at 7 p.m. at Coventry High School tonight and tomorrow.